Red list scrapped TODAY but travel Covid tests for all arrivals stay until Jan

THE TRAVEL red list has been scrapped and all 11 nations taken off it from 4am this morning, meaning no more hotel quarantine.

But testing for all arrivals into Britain will stay until at least January, pushing up the price of Christmas for millions of people hoping to see friends and family.

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Scrapping the hated red list will mean Brits no longer have to pay £2,285 to quarantine in hotels this winter when they come back from countries with high cases of the omicron variant.

Quarantines will be replaced with testing for the fully vaccinated instead.

Those who are not double jabbed will be ordered to stay inside their homes, however.

It comes just a fortnight after 11 African nations were slapped on the list after the emergence of Omicron.

Sajid Javid confirmed the news to MPs in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon, saying now there was community transmission, it didn’t make sense anymore.

???? Read our Covid-19 live blog for the latest updates

At a recent Covid briefing, the PM promised to re-examine the policy amid claims it was unfair and ineffective. 

Pre-departure tests will still be required before vaccinated Brits can get on a plane, and when they get back on day two.

And they must isolate until they get their negative test results back.

Pre-departure tests vary in cost depending on location, but usually cost between €25-€30 (£21-£25) in Europe, meaning an addition of up top £100 for a family of four with children aged over 12.

However, some Brits have found that the cost of their pre-departure tests are running into the hundreds, like Annette Mitchell, who has a holiday booked to New York in January with her two children.

She told the BBC: “Already the trip is expensive without added costs, now we are being told to test before we return to the UK. The only tests in the US are a cost of $200 each – that’s what it says on the Virgin Atlantic website.

“So a total of $600 (£453). That’s another holiday.”

Unvaccinated adults must take a pre-departure Covid test in the two days before travel to England, as well as tests for day 2 and day 8 after arrival.

After arriving in England, they must then self-isolate for ten full days.

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